The year was 2017 and it was the beginning of a long and humid summer, school had just let out and I was so excited to start a summer full of sweaty soccer games, sunburnt pool days, and adventures with my then new girlfriend Emma. Then everything changed when my parents decided that it was the right time to ship me off to visit my family in Switzerland, I have an uncle there and my parents had decided it was time for me to see the world, that meant a month overseas for me. As conceited as it may seem, I was a tad unhappy about this, everything I thought my summer was going to be was suddenly changed, everything I was so excited for completely cut out of the picture. Little did I know that this trip would be one that I know I will remember for the rest of my life, I grew immensely on this trip as a person, in large part thanks to my uncle of course. Switzerland changed me and shaped me into the person that I am today, by teaching me to slow down and enjoy life by experiencing things out of my comfort zone.

I stayed at my uncle's house just outside of Zurich, Switzerland's capital. I did spend a lot of quality time here with my family and this place holds a lot of importance to me. He and his wife live in a beautiful house. I entered the front door and come into their mud room, directly to the left is a shoe rack and hangers for coats. I then open another door entering the main part of the house, the kitchen is directly on my left. It's a very  elegant kitchen probably about 20 feet by 15 feet. Off of that room is the first full bathroom it's quite cramped with the shower and large bowl sink and the automatic toilet. Going back out of the kitchen I turn left into the main living space, the living room is massive 40 feet by 30 feet and there are several very comfortable couches and chairs. No television though, there's also a table where we ate most of our family meals during the trip. Going back to the staircase I went up to where the bedrooms are, at the top of the loudest saturcase ever constructed, I might add (stepping down one step was like an avalanche I swear) there is a long hallway. Halfway down this hall on the right is the bedroom where I stayed, When I entered that bedroom on the left there was a queen size bed that was very comfortable, off the end of that bed was a desk and there was a dresser tucked into the far-left corner of the room. Going back out and taking a right down the rest of the hall was my Uncle and Aunts room, which I never actually went into because they love their privacy and I respected that. One of the things that I loved the most about this house was that all the floors were tile and trapped in the cold in the summer and the heat in the winter. Also, the house was covered in windows, there were several in every single room and they all that these huge wooden shutters on them. On the really hot days we would shut all those and the house would turn from well-lit place into a cool dark cave that you could just enjoy constantly.

The adventure that my Uncle and I went on that really taught me the most important lessons on that trip was actually the last day that I was there. This day we decided to go and see the Swiss alps which are only a small train ride from the house as crazy as it sounds. We arrived at this quaint village at the bottom of this overbearing mountain and got onto this creaky old gondola that took us right to the top of the mountain. We got to the top and suddenly I was blind. We were literally in the clouds, and when they cleared I was blinded all over as the powerful sun rays blasted through the disappearing clouds. That day we took hours upon hours hiking down that beautiful mountain enjoying the views and the beautiful weather. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. The whole trip and especially this adventure taught me to slow my life down, to take a second and took around at the absolute beauty that was around me. I’ll never forget what the sun looked like setting over the Swiss Alps all the mountains were suddenly on fire as the sun slowly descended and then submerged into darkness. I'm so very glad I went on that trip, I grew so much and it matured me beyond my years I truly believe it did, I wouldn’t trade those experiences for the world.